Mega Man X - The Robotnik Wars
by ShadowWolf Forsythe
Summary: I wrote (and finished) this back in 94. Heh, and as you can see I need to seriously edit this to make ff.net worthy.


Mega Man X:  
  
The Robotnik Wars  
  
By  
  
Mark "ShadowWolf" Conrard  
  
Worthless Legalish Mumbo-Jumbo:  
  
Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Robotnik, and everything else I  
  
missed is the property of Sega.  
  
Megaman X, Zero, Dr. Cain, Sigma, Vile, and Protoman are the  
  
property of Capcom Co.  
  
Jill, Houston, Speed T. Hedgehog, and "Megaman X: The  
  
Robotnik Wars" are the property of me, and if you do anything I don't like  
  
with them, I will personally rip out your spinal cord and use it for dental  
  
floss. Got That? Now on with the story.  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
THE END OF THE 21ST CENTURY.  
  
In the vast region of the Cosmos, a new planet has been discovered.  
  
Mobius.  
  
The leaders of the Maverick Hunters must retreat from the carnage of the  
  
Maverick Wars on Earth. Their only escape way is the planet Mobius. So the  
  
Hunters, as they are known, send one of their starships on a voyage to Mobius, having no knowledge that a dangerous war is already raging on there as well...  
  
  
  
1 CHAPTER 1  
  
RUDE AWAKENING  
  
X awoke from his long cryoslumber, which he had been in for at least forty  
  
lightyears, if the probes' data had been correct. His systems booted up, and  
  
his diagnostics went on overdrive trying to figure out if there was any  
  
trace of the infamous Doppler Virus in his systems. The tests came out  
  
negative. The deepsleep capsule's canopy swung upward with a hiss of  
  
hydraulics. X hopped lightly out of the capsule and stumbled. Forty  
  
lightyears of inaction had left X's reflexes somewhat dulled.  
  
X picked himself up and walked toward the autorevival systems control board  
  
and wondered, who would he awaken first? X decided to revive his robotic  
  
brother, Protoman Neo, and his fellow Hunter , Zero. He pressed in the  
  
appropriate coodrinates and set the other six to revive in one hour's time.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Wake up, oh Crimson one!" said a voice from outside Zero's Cryo-Chamber.  
  
"Uuuuuuuuuunnghhhh...." Zero replied sleepily.  
  
"Move your Ass Zero we're here!!!!" the voice said. Zero seriously considered  
  
blowing the voice's owner away with a plasma shot. It didn't matter what  
  
level, just as high as Zero's DualBlasters would go. Wasn't that like Level Six  
  
or something? Zero wasn't sure.  
  
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake uuuup!!!" the voice shouted. It obviously had no  
  
problems in awakening, Zero observed.  
  
"Oh, go away," growled Zero, putting his pillow over his head in an effort  
  
to shut out the voice.  
  
But the voice refused to be denied. "If you don't wake up," it threatened,  
  
"I'll BLAST YOU!!!"  
  
Oh God, Zero thought. He wouldn't dare. The voice knew it was playing with  
  
fire--  
  
"WAKE UP OR I WILL FIRE!!!!" Zero heard the X Buster charging up "AHHH DAMNIT!! I'M UP I'M UP!!" Zero screamed. He tore open the canopy with surprising strength, also startling the white and blue Reploid that was standing in front of it. The plasteel canopy landed with a loud clang on the catwalk, about  
  
fifteen feet away. Zero thought he heard a satisfied little snicker from X.  
  
"Little bastard, teach you to mess with me..." Zero muttered, firing off a  
  
couple of plasma bolts at X. X dodged the first shot but the other caught him in his left shoulder leaving a dark gray mark "Man Zero what's with you?! You could have killed me," X shouted as he left the room clutching his burnt shoulder. "Who's laughing now?" Zero said, laughing.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Protoman checked the ship's systems. All green. The Red Mercury was ready for  
  
her descent into the Mobian atmosphere considering it was just in a battle between Sigma's flag ship the Black Spire a little while back.  
  
"What's up, X?" The red and silver Protoman asked, sliding into the copilot's  
  
seat.  
  
"Nothing much, Proto, Zero almost fried me," X replied pointing to his shoulder. " But other than that I'm just making sure that the Red Mercury will be  
  
able to make the descent. By my calculations, we will make it by a margin of  
  
point nine armor rating. We'll have to rebuild her armor when we touch down.  
  
Other than that, we're ok."  
  
"Good. If I should die before I wake..." Protoman said, "I will be very  
  
annoyed." X and Protoman laughed together.  
  
"That's a good one! I'll have to remember that!" X said, starting to forget the incident that happened earlier.  
  
"Where is Zero's coffee?," Zero's rough streetwise voice asked. "Zero need  
  
coffee!!"  
  
"Here," X said, handing the crimson reploid a mug of coffee. Zero slammed the coffee down like a Mexican lady slams down tequila. Nobody knew where Zero had picked up his unusual habit, but it was there. "So, how go the preps, X? Oh and sorry about earlier I was just tired" he said.  
  
"That's Ok," X said. "Oh about the landing...well do fine, We won't die, but it will be close. An armor rating of point nine, if we do it perfectly."  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Zero said.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Sir," Snively drawled. "I'm picking up some rather unusual readings."  
  
"That hedgehog?" Dr. Ivo Robotnik asked hopefully. Robotnik was Snively's  
  
uncle (not to mention absolute superior.) and also happened to be the Evil  
  
Lord on Mobius.  
  
"No, sir, not precisely. The SkyBot has detected an abnormal amount of Class  
  
E plasma coming from an object approximately 150 feet long and 13 feet high.  
  
The plasma signatures indicate an interplanetary propulsion unit of some  
  
sort," said Snively.  
  
"Interplanetary-- Snively, are you implying that those Freedom Fighters have  
  
constructed a spaceship??!" Robotnik demanded.  
  
"It appears so, sir," Snively confirmed.  
  
"Ah, Sonic... You can't defeat me, so you try to run. Well not this time,  
  
hedgehog. I've got you right in the palm of my hand..." Robotnik said to  
  
nobody in particular. When he saw that Snively wasn't aiming any  
  
weapons at the target, Robotnik's temper flared. "What are you waiting for?!"  
  
Robotnik yelled at his nephew. "I want you to throw every thing we  
  
have at that starcraft!! Use SWATbots!! Use plasma cannons!! Use nuclear warheads!! I don't care!! Just don't let it leave!!!!"  
  
  
  
Outside of the Robotnik Compound, tens of thousands of weapons emerged from  
  
their hiding places, glistening in the twilight. They all charged at once to  
  
their maximum capacity. Snively launched them one after another, making a  
  
literal storm of death. Hundreds of SWATbots, all armed with long-range  
  
laser cannons, lined up on top of the compound. Their cannons lipped yellow  
  
fire as they volleyed laser bolts into the perpetual night of Robotropolis.  
  
Far away, a blue figure watches the spectacle from a rocky cliff. "Well what do we have here?, Someone's getting the heavy end of the hammer!" he exclaims. "Perfect.  
  
No SWATbots at all." he says. Pulling a Power Ring out of his backpack, and in a burst of light, he speeds away.  
  
* * * * *  
  
The Red Mercury shuddered heavily as laser fire slammed into it's  
  
underbelly.  
  
"What's going on!??" Zero yelled, grabbing hold of the back of the  
  
co-pilot's seat. "Mavericks, way out here!??"  
  
"Proto!! Countermeasures!!!" X shouted.  
  
"Countermeasures, ONLINE!!! X, Zero, gunpods!!!," Protoman yelled.  
  
X and Zero manned the bridge's two gunpods and started blasting anti plasma at the bolts.  
  
Suddenly Protoman yelled, "INCOMING!!" and instantly got to work shooting down the oncoming missiles with the Red Mercury's forward gun turret.  
  
X remembered something. "DR. CAIN!!!," he shouted, bolting out of the gunpod.  
  
X manually opened as many cryosleep chambers as he could, but could only  
  
open a measly three: Dr. Cain, a female Hunter named Jill, and a human Hunter named Houston.  
  
The ship suddenly heaved violently and, about 5 yards in front of X, the hull breached, sending around two dozen or so sleeping Reploids to their silent doom.  
  
  
  
"X!!! Get to an escape pod!!! WE'RE GONNA CRASH!!!!!!!!!!" Protoman screamed over the intercom.  
  
With out hesitation X, and his three groggy team mates scrambled toward the nearest escape pod.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
CRASH LANDING  
  
Red Mercury, Low orbit above Mobius  
  
X punched in the escape pod's maglock code, and the doors slid open  
  
silently. "Everyone inside!!" X yelled over the alarms. Everyone piled into  
  
the escape pod, and the doors slid shut again. X disengaged the pod from the  
  
rest of the ship with a loud (Phoomph!!)  
  
Dr. Cain's voice rose in prayer. "Our Father, who art in Heaven--"  
  
"OW!!" Zero yelled as the turbulence bashed his head hard into the wall of the pod. That was the last thing he saw before the world around him went black.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Rotor's workshop, Knothole  
  
"What the hell is that?" Princess Sally Acorn of Mobius said, pointing into the sky.  
  
Rotor looked up from his newest invention to see two fiery red dots in the sky, one clearly MUCH larger then the other. "A spaceship. Only possible explanation." Rotor went back to his invention.  
  
"But doesn't Robotnik have all the spaceships, Aunt Sally?" Tails said,  
  
swishing his tails back and forth.  
  
"You know something? The kid has a point," Rotor said, putting down his work  
  
and looking more closely at the smaller red dot in the sky, the other larger dot having disappeared over the tree tops and out from sight. "Why would old Robotnik blow away one of his own ships? It doesn't make sense!"  
  
"Maybe he thought one of us was on it." Sally said.  
  
"Like Sonic?" Rotor laughed. "That'd just about do it!"  
  
"Seriously, Rotor," Sally said. "I'd bet that was it. Robotnik makes a  
  
simple mistake, something like twenty SWATbots get wiped out."  
  
"Public service, really," Rotor said. "The world could use less of those  
  
creeps." Rotor kicked back in his chair. "A lot less, like maybe none. Let  
  
'em take 'Buttnik too." Rotor's eyes gleamed devilishly. "Hey... I have a  
  
spare plasma rifle..."  
  
"Rotor, please," Sally said, rolling her eyes.  
  
Rotor grinned. "Can't a whacko like me think freely?"  
  
"Shut up Rotor" Tails mumbled.  
  
"Oh, god, Rotor, now you got him started. You're worse than Sonic!" Sally  
  
said, throwing her arms up in the air.  
  
"Sonic's cool!!" Tails retorted.  
  
"Speaking of Sonic, where is he?" Rotor said.  
  
"I haven't seen him all day..." Sally said, clearly worried about him. "That's what I came in here to ask you..."  
  
"Oh, you did?" Rotor said, feeling embarrassed. "Well, I haven't seen him,  
  
either. Probably at Robotropolis."  
  
"Robotropolis?!!" Sally yelled. "You let him go to Robotropolis and didn't  
  
tell me!??" Sally whacked Rotor upside the head. "What the hell is wrong  
  
with you!??" --Whack-- "Are" --whack-- "you" --whack-- "NUTS?!!!"  
  
"Yeow!!" Rotor yelled, trying to defend himself. "Watch it, Sally! That's my  
  
head you're pounding on!!"  
  
Suddenly, there was a loud thwump of metal embedding itself into the ground.  
  
Sally ceased beating on Rotor, to Rotor's relief, and asked, "Now what was  
  
that!??"  
  
"Sounded like it landed right smack in the middle of Knothole!" Rotor  
  
exclaimed. "I'll go check it out. Stay here." He jumped out of his chair and  
  
dashed outside, forgetting to shut the door.  
  
"Jesus, Mary, and Buddha!!" Rotor exclaimed in total shock.  
  
"What is it, Rotor?" Sally asked. Tails slipped out the door.  
  
"Wow..." Tails gaped, his eyes wide.  
  
"Tails, get back here!!" Sally shouted.  
  
"Aunt Sally, come here quick! It's really awesome!!" Tails called.  
  
"Tails, I'm serious," Sally said, stepping out the door. "It could be -- oh  
  
my god...." Sally said, the sight of the escape pod taking her breath away.  
  
"It's not Robotnik, Sally," Rotor said. "It doesn't look evil enough."  
  
"That doesn't mean whoever was using it wasn't hostile," Sally retorted to  
  
the best of her ability.  
  
Tails touched the pod. "Yeowch!!" he exclaimed, snatching his hand away from  
  
the hot metal. "It's HOT!!!"  
  
The door slid open...  
  
"Ohmygod... ohmygod... It's... it's... OPENING!!" Rotor panicked. "What am I  
  
gonna do?!"  
  
"Rotor?" Sally whispered fiercely.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Shut up!!"  
  
Rotor shut up, fearing that he would get beat up by the Princess again.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Unknown location, Mobius  
  
"Zero, would you mind getting your back off my head?!" Protoman asked, clearly irritated.  
  
Zero groaned a question. "Are we dead yet?"  
  
"No, Zero," Jill said. "If this is Heaven, what are you doing here?"  
  
The crimson reploid only groaned again.  
  
"Are we gonna just sit around here and talk all day, or are we getting out of here?" Houston asked impatiently.  
  
"Just a second." X said, putting in the door's maglock code.  
  
"Hey," Jill protested. "How come X is the only one who ever puts in the  
  
maglock codes into anything, be it a nuclear warhead or a blender?"  
  
"Oh, God," X muttered. He relocked the maglock. "There, Neko, happy now?"  
  
"Very." Jill said, grinning as she punched in the maglock code.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Outside Rotor's workshop, Knothole  
  
The door suddenly slid shut again. "What the heck?," Sally said, screwing  
  
up her face from the sheer weirdness. If it would have been Rotor that had  
  
done such a thing exiting his workshop, Sally would've laughed out loud.  
  
"What was that all about?" Rotor asked, puzzled " guess it maliuntioned".  
  
As suddenly as it shut, the door reopened.  
  
Rotor gave a muffled snort. "Are these aliens whacko?" he asked himself.  
  
The door began opening and shutting seemingly by itself. It was hilarious.  
  
Tails hid his muzzle behind his paw, stifling a laughing fit, Sally's icy visage cracked, and Rotor...  
  
Let's not even go into those sort of details here, ok?  
  
Their grins were instantly wiped off their faces when the first two  
  
impressive, six foot robots stepped out of the escape pod.  
  
Which is pretty damn impressive compared to four foot plus animals.  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
BLOOD AND METAL  
  
"Wow..." Tails gawked at the formidable killing machines in front of them.  
  
"Tails, get down!" Sally said. As usual, Tails did nothing of the sort.  
  
"Look at that E-Plasma cannon..." Rotor whistled. "Man, I'd like one of  
  
those..."  
  
"Rotor, did you just say E-Plasma?!" Sally said, her eyes growing marginally  
  
wider. "As in SWATbot E-plasma?! Come on, Rotor, run!! What are you,  
  
insane?!"  
  
However, Rotor and Tails couldn't move, morbidly fascinated by the machines.  
  
The robots were actually quite different from one another. The first was a  
  
robot with white armor traced with a blue trim, and had two plasma cannons mounted on his forearms, the right considerably more advanced than the left which was obviously detachable. The second was stunning scarlet red and white donning a cool red and white helmet with a mildly long crack in its left side, a long blonde ponytail coming out the back like a river of gold. He had an E-Plasma cannon too, mounted on his right forearm, but Rotor spied the Beam Saber that he carried at his left hip. This second one looked about cautiously, his right hand never far from the Beam Saber. This would be the dangerous one.  
  
A third robot climbed out, this one an older, streamlined model, more  
  
humanoid than the other two. He wore a flat red (As in color flat, not shape)  
  
helmet with a black reflective visor, to match the rest of his vermilion  
  
body. Around his neck was tied a yellow scarf. This one had no visible  
  
weaponry, but he carried a primarily Grey wielding shield, lined with the  
  
dull crimson that matched helmet and body armor.  
  
This one was immediately followed by a female robot, this one looking most like the first, but with black armor traced in emerald. Her radiant black armor matched her long-range plasma rifle and low-slung 357.Magnum handgun. She was extremely well made and beautiful with long hair tied into a ponytail that fell just above her shoulders. This one, too, carried an aura of menace along with her beauty. Not the woman to piss, Rotor decided.  
  
And finally, the fifth came. This robot was the most obvious, wearing  
  
SWATbot-style armor. His permanent arm cannon was used in place of a right  
  
arm. This one was a bulky, heavy robot, built primarily for killing and  
  
destruction. It was about as subtle as a gangster with a bazooka. Of all the  
  
androids he'd seen today, Rotor decided that if any were of Robotnik's  
  
batch, it had to be this one.  
  
Number Five took off his head-- oops, no, it was just a helmet. Rotor's eyes  
  
bugged out of his head when he saw Number Five's face.  
  
He had a stubby blonde beard, shaven short. You could've accomplished more  
  
with a toothpick, however. His gold-flecked green eyes sparkled in the  
  
moonlight.  
  
But the really freaky thing was this-- he was neither robot nor animal, he  
  
was like Robotnik, human to the core, a species that had supposedly been  
  
totally roboticized in the early days of the war. The few remaining humans  
  
had been decimated by the other survivors, claiming that these last humans  
  
were Robotnik's spies and intended to roboticize the rest of Mobius. This  
  
one didn't seem to know of anything about the situation of Mobius. Then  
  
again, they just fell from the sky... So that was to be expected.  
  
A sixth figure climbed out of the escape pod, an old human who had the look  
  
of the elders of this world, the look of someone who has been to Hell and  
  
back again. He limped out on a copper cane. The first and second robots  
  
assisted his walking.  
  
"Two humans!" Sally whispered in disbelief. "What the hell are humans doing on  
  
Mobius? Other than Robotnick and Snivly!?"  
  
The old human spoke. "Who are you....?" he said, squinting as though to see  
  
past the Freedom Fighters' illusion. He spoke!  
  
In fluent Mobian!  
  
Why the hell should visitors from another planet speak Mobian?  
  
Sally didn't know or care. All that mattered was that machine and mortal got  
  
to be on equal terms with one another. Any other way and the robots would  
  
tear the world asunder. Literally.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Still Unknown location, Mobius  
  
X was totally awed. Those animals had spoken! Not only that, but in perfect  
  
English! Then again, these didn't look like ordinary animals. Most Earth  
  
animals were quadruped, not anthropomorphic. X began to wonder if any other of the  
  
probes' data were incorrect. This entire planet was supposed to be  
  
uninhabited, dammit!! X started to get angry. He'd have to take it out on a  
  
Maverick sometime soon.  
  
X sighed. He remembered. No Mavericks of any type on this planet.  
  
Crap.  
  
Now that he was stuck on a planet with talking animals, he'd better get to  
  
know them.  
  
"Hi," X said.  
  
"Uhhh, hi," replied the walrus. The female ground squirrel gave the walrus a  
  
look that could curdle solid Titanium.  
  
"God, I've never seen a smart SWATbot before," said the two tailed fox,  
  
swishing his bushy tails back and forth curiously.  
  
"Tails!!" the squirrel said.  
  
" S'ok" X said. "Wait, what the hell is a SWATbot?"  
  
"It's nothing," the squirrel said hastily.  
  
"You're lying." Zero growled, his hand clasping firmly around his Beam Saber.  
  
"Zero, X said. "This is a simple conversation with a person who lives here, not a Maverick interrogation session."  
  
"It will be what I decide it to be." Zero retorted coldly.  
  
X took Zero aside and snarled in his ear. "What's wrong with you? These  
  
aren't god-damn Mavericks, or even our enemies here, they're living,  
  
breathing creatures! You can't go off and just decide to break the First Law  
  
of Robotics just because you're on another planet!!"  
  
"The precise wording of the Laws only protect human beings," Zero said.  
  
"They are not human beings. We can do whatever we like to them."  
  
X gave Zero an extremely hard left hook to the face. "Are you just  
  
bloodthirsty today, Zero, or are you just plain stupid?! I can't let you  
  
harm anyone, Zero!" X gave Zero a right jab to the chin, even harder than  
  
the first. "ARE YOU LISTENING, ZERO?!" X pounded on Zero a bit more.  
  
WARNING!! WARNING!! POWER LEVELS AT THIRTY PERCENT AND DROPPING!! Zero's power management systems screamed. Zero coughed up circulatory fluid the approximate reploid equivalent of blood. He was in pain.  
  
"Are you gonna do as I say now, Zero?" X asked, implying that if Zero  
  
didn't, he'd beat the tar out of him again.  
  
"Urgh... yeah..." Zero managed before coughing up another mouthful of  
  
circulatory fluid.  
  
"I'm sorry about my friend here," X said. "He's being an asshole. He might have gotten his systems screwed up a little in the crash, so I'll get the mess cleaned up."  
  
This seemed to impress the animals one HELL of a lot. This white reploid had  
  
just gave the red one a punch that would floor a god-damn rhino! "Uhm...  
  
Thats ok," said the walrus quietly.  
  
"My name is X," X said, extending a hand. "We kinda need to get word back home...  
  
You see, there's a war raging on Earth--"  
  
"And you come here to hide," the squirrel finished. She shook the reploid's  
  
hand. "I'm Sally. Interesting strategy."  
  
"Cut the crap, we need a ship and we need to get one now." Protoman said,  
  
his scarf blowing defiantly in the evening wind. "I hate playing politico."  
  
"And I hate robots!" the walrus retaliated. "Probably with ol' 'Buttnik!"  
  
"Rotor!!" Sally exclaimed, looking like her eyes would pop out of her head  
  
at any minute.  
  
"Yeah, are you SWATbots?" the fox chimed in.  
  
"Tell me, why does this kid keep mentioning SWATbots?" Zero asked X. "Are  
  
they like some sort of Maverick?"  
  
"Kinda sounds like Sigma got here before we did, eh, X?" Houston said,  
  
scratching his neck.  
  
"Maybe..." X said in deep thought. "Tell me, is the enemy leader anything  
  
like us? I mean, is he a Reploid?"  
  
"Reploid?" Rotor repeated, urging X for more info.  
  
"Yes, reploid, stupid." said Protoman. "You think X just said that for his  
  
health?"  
  
"Oh," Rotor uttered an extremely obscene Mobian curse, basicly telling Proto  
  
to stay out of business that wasn't his. Then he realized, English was the  
  
same as Mobian. Oops.  
  
"Mobian, you have just ten seconds to take that back before I plasma you all  
  
over the universe," Protoman said, morphing his left forearm seamlessly into  
  
a Plasma cannon. Luckily, Jill intervened.  
  
"Listen up!" She barked to Proto. "You or anyone else so much as  
  
looks at him in the wrong way, and you'll have to take it up with me!! Do I  
  
make myself clear?!" Proto nodded his head. "Anyone else? Zero?" Zero agreed  
  
quietly. "Good."  
  
X could see now that his brother and Rotor would not get along. And Zero  
  
wasn't exactly going to be cooperative, either. God, why was it X's duty to  
  
keep Proto from starting an interplanetary war? And what the hell was with Zero? Ever since they got here he got blood thirsty! "I'll look into Zero later. Right now I have to keep an eye out for Proto" X thought to himself  
  
"Man, you're lucky, dude," Houston said to Rotor. "You got the best lookin'  
  
out for you! Jill is a Hunteress among Hunteresses!!"  
  
"Houston, I got in the Hunters because I killed a man," Jill said dryly.  
  
"And I've killed several others. Don't make me do it again."  
  
That effectively shut Houston up.  
  
Dr. Cain beckoned Rotor over. "You have the look of someone who works with  
  
machines well." Dr. Cain said quietly. "I have need to speak with you...  
  
about a -- what do you call it?-- Roboticizer."  
  
"Excuse me?" Rotor asked. "Could we go into my workshop for a second?"  
  
"That Mobian will not take Dr. Cain with him!!" Proto declared.  
  
"It's fine, really," Dr. Cain smiled weakly. "Lead the way..."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Rotor's workshop, Knothole  
  
"Quite an impressive setup you have here, Rotor," Dr. Cain said approvingly,  
  
leaning on his cane.  
  
"Yeah, well I have some important stuff in here, so please, don't touch  
  
anything," Rotor said, taking off his cap and scratching his head. "You said  
  
you wanted to talk to me about the Roboticizer. How did you know about it?"  
  
Dr. Cain laughed. "Why, my son," he said, "I built it!"  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
SPEED  
  
Outside SWATbot Factory, Robotropolis  
  
"Just one more minute..." Sonic the Hedgehog prayed, working impatiently  
  
with a computer terminal.  
  
DOWNLOAD: 100% COMPLETE  
  
Sonic ripped the optical disk out of the computer and shoved it into his  
  
backpack, planning to burn rubber. He turned around and walked right into a  
  
SWATbot.  
  
"Hedgehog detected," said the SWATbot, looking down at Sonic.  
  
"No kidding!" Sonic retorted, tripping the SWATbot with a sweep kick. The  
  
SWATbot fell to the ground with a loud clang. "Outta here!!" Sonic yelled,  
  
running like a bat out of Hell with a burst of light.  
  
Weapons that Sonic had just snuck carefully by not five minutes earlier he  
  
simply dashed in front of. No need for stealth now. He could see the  
  
outskirts of the Great Forest on the horizon...  
  
(TESSEW TESSEW TESSEW!!!)  
  
A laser cannon detonated the ground in front of Sonic, nearly causing him to  
  
stumble. "HEY!!" Sonic yelled. "Watch where you're pointing that thing!!"  
  
A second cannon caused the ground not four inches to Sonic's left to  
  
explode. "Geez, if you were a little closer to me, I'd think you were  
  
actually aiming for me!!" Sonic laughed.  
  
(KA-BLAM!!!)  
  
Sonic didn't see the laser coming up from behind him, and it struck him full  
  
in the back. He fell to the ground and prepared for the worst.  
  
"Hey over here" yelled a voice. This caught the four SWATbot's entention  
  
It looked up just in time to see a dark figure covered in shadow jump down from a ruined single story building and fire a string plasma shots, killing it on the spot. The first of the two now had no head. A other had its left arm blown off. As for the other two, well lets just say they will need more than miracle to function again.  
  
Sonic opened his eyes. A dark gray hedgehog with a beam rifle in his right paw fired two shots at the other squad of SWATbots in front of him, scattering them. He fired off a few more shots into the SWATbots' ranks. One fell to the ground, his chest plate blown wide open. The stranger charged energy into his beam rifle and let loose the biggest volley of laser beam fire Sonic had ever seen. SWATbots fell down "dead", their individual power sources ruptured from mere heat damage. "Are you ok?" the other hedgehog asked, helping Sonic up.  
  
"Uh, yeah" Sonic said.  
  
"Then run" And with that, the stranger turned and started to walk off.  
  
"Wait--!!" Sonic yelled. The other hedgehog turned around "What?" "Who are you?" Sonic asked. "My friends call me Speed" the gray hedgehog said, then he walked off into the glare of the sunrise and was gone. Sonic had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time they met. And with that he sped off towards the great forest.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Robotnik Compound, Robotropolis  
  
Robotnik reviewed the video of Sonic escaping. It simply wasn't possible!!  
  
The SWATbots had exploded for no reason at all!! He looked at the massive  
  
blast of light that had destroyed his troopers. Wait...  
  
"Snively, magnify this." Robotnik said, tapping a spot on his console. "300%"  
  
"Magnification in progress, sir."  
  
The video enlarged to a particular location. A blur of gray... A burst of  
  
red light...... "Snivly" Robotnick growled "Yes sir? " Snivly said. "It seems we have a new foe" Robotnick replied "Yes sire" Snivly said. After a very long while Robotnik sneered and literally growled "Have him killed.. "  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Knothole, Great Forest  
  
"You?!" Rotor choked.  
  
"Yes" Dr. Cain confirmed.  
  
"But, HOW?!!" Rotor exclaimed. "You're -- You're from up THERE!!" Rotor  
  
pointed to the ceiling.  
  
"No, it's a fact I've been running from my whole life. I am Mobian" Cain  
  
said, leaning on his staff. "I saw what damage my creation was inflicting  
  
upon the world, and I did what everyone else prayed they could've done. I  
  
ran." Cain looked down in shame. "I turned my back on this world, until I  
  
could reverse the effects of the Roboticizer. But the Maverick Wars  
  
interfered, and I ran again, this time to prevent Sigma from getting ahold  
  
of Roboticizer technology. But I still haven't figured out how to reverse  
  
the effects of my creation." Cain took a deep breath. "I've failed my  
  
friends, my country, my world. And now I've returned."  
  
"I don't believe this... I've wanted to get ahold of whoever built that  
  
damned machine for ages... And he just falls out of space!!" Rotor said,  
  
fuming. "Safer than anything!" Rotor grabbed Cain's shirt and lifted him up  
  
into the air. "Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up in the  
  
morning and thank God that you aren't a robot? DO YOU?! How many of your  
  
family members were turned into soulless, metal imitations of what they were  
  
supposed to be?! None, I'd bet!!" Rotor threw Cain away from him in disgust.  
  
"Rotor, I don't think you understand this. How many times have you awoken in  
  
the middle of the night and thought of all the people dying because of  
  
something you created, and knew that you were safe because you turned your  
  
back on your home world? That you should be out there fighting alongside  
  
every man, woman, and child on Mobius but you aren't because you're afraid  
  
for your soul?" Cain asked quietly. "I was the only one in my entire family  
  
to survive the Change. I saw my four year old son transformed into a hollow  
  
mechanical shell of what he once was. I killed my own son, Rotor. Do you  
  
know how that feels? I KILLED HIM, GOD DAMN IT!!" Cain fought back tears.  
  
*You aren't the only one in pain, Rotor.* thought Rotor. *Just because you've  
  
suffered, does that mean he has to suffer too?*  
  
"I'm sorry, Dr. Cain," Rotor said. "I just got carried away- "  
  
"It's fine," Cain said, wiping away a tear. "I'm fine. Now, I want you to  
  
tell me something. Where is Robotnik? I'm going to kill him, right now, this  
  
very moment."  
  
"You can't be serious!!" Rotor exclaimed. "The SWATbots would tear you to  
  
pieces!!"  
  
"No they won't. And if they do, I don't care," Cain said.  
  
"Wait, the others that crashed with you. What are they?" Rotor asked.  
  
"Reploids. Machines able to make their own decisions, to learn, to think, to  
  
feel emotions. My weapons against Robotnik, and those Mavricks and thier leader....Sigma" Cain said. "Their my only weapons."  
  
"What do you use them for? Literally weapons?" Rotor wanted to know.  
  
Dr. Cain laughed. "Use them? I can't use them for anything! They will do as  
  
they wish, because they can make their own choices in life. But these five  
  
are my most elite and loyal Maverick Hunters I brought with."  
  
"Would they follow you to fight against Robotnik?"  
  
"X and Zero would, I'm certain of that. They would win in the end, surely. They've  
  
taken on entire armies and won, just the two of them. I've seen it."  
  
"Do you have a death wish, Cain?" Rotor asked. "Why not stay here and work  
  
on the De-Roboticizer with me and Uncle Chuck?"  
  
"Uncle Chuck?" Cain repeated, not recognizing the name.  
  
"Sir Charles Hedgehog," Rotor elaborated.  
  
"Oh, that Uncle Chuck!" Cain said, snapping his fingers. "So you know  
  
Sonic?"  
  
"Of course!" Rotor said. "Everyone on Mobius knows him!"  
  
"Does he still have the shoes I built for him?" Cain asked fondly.  
  
"You?!" Rotor exclaimed, aghast. "I always thought Uncle  
  
Chuck made them."  
  
"We were pretty close, Charles and I," Cain reminisced. "And now, I realize,  
  
I'm going to take down Julian. I'm going to take him down, HARD. But I need  
  
help. You need help. We help one another."  
  
"You've got a deal, Dr. Cain. Whoever you are." Rotor shook Cain's hand.  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
JUST A SLIGHT MISUNDERSTANDING  
  
Sonic screeched to a halt. Literally. There was a God damned spaceship  
  
smack in the middle of Knothole! One of Robotnik's tricks, no doubt. He hid  
  
behind a tree.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Knothole, Great Forest  
  
Zero's infrared sensors flared. He clasped his hand around his Beam Saber.  
  
He felt an intruder...  
  
"What is it, Zero?" Houston asked, noticing his partner's shift into  
  
"trouble mode."  
  
Zero paid no heed to Houston's words. His eyes narrowed. Behind that tree.  
  
Yes. There.  
  
He struck, Beam Saber fully activated. There was a sickening buzz of plasma  
  
burning through solid wood. He'd missed.  
  
"Hey!" A blue hedgehog said, extremely surprised. "What are you doing?!"  
  
Zero swung the plasma sword again. He didn't know how the hedgehog dodged  
  
his first blow, but Zero was determined not to miss this time. There was a  
  
brief flash of light as the hedgehog dodged Zero's weapon a second time. "Damn you!!" Zero roared, highly agitated. He charged up power into his blade. If he couldn't slash the annoying creature in half, he would simply blow him away.  
  
"Oh my God, Zero, what is wrong with you?!" X cried out. Zero paid no heed  
  
to the words of his partner, either. He pointed the hilt of the Saber at  
  
the hedgehog, which opened up and cut loose the built up energy. Small but deadly green bolts of E-plasma burst out of the flashlight-sized Beam Saber and flew at the hedgehog.  
  
"Woah, SHIT!!" the hedgehog yelled, dodging every single bolt.  
  
"What the hell are you anyway?" Zero said, disgusted. He cut loose a barrage  
  
of powered up Z-Buster shots, which the hedgehog evaded.  
  
"Something isn't adding up!" Protoman said. "This isn't right!" He cut loose  
  
a few shots of his own, which missed like Zero's. "Wha--?" Protoman gawked.  
  
"Dual charge!" Zero called out. Both Zero and Protoman began glowing,  
  
collecting energy in their arm cannons. The hedgehog took one look and ran.  
  
Zero and Protoman unleashed their shots. Zero's shot curved and whirled in a  
  
double helix pattern, glowing a neon yellow. Protoman's shot expanded like a  
  
mushroom cloud, with a ring about it, the blast glowing a atomic green.  
  
Both of these shots alone had the power to take out a Earth skyscraper.  
  
They both missed by a mile.  
  
"Houston!!" Zero yelled. "Triad charge!!"  
  
Houston looked frightened. "No way, Zero, that thing gives me the creeps!"  
  
"Houston, I am your commanding officer!! You will obey me or die!!" Zero  
  
bellowed.  
  
"And I am yours, Zero," X said sternly. "Now, put your new found bloodlust on hold for  
  
a second!!"  
  
Zero lowered his Z-Buster. Protoman did likewise with his arm cannon.  
  
"Now, could we please NOT kill anything for at least FIVE seconds?!" X  
  
shouted. "Can you do that, Zero?"  
  
"Yes, X" Zero said, looking rebellious.  
  
"Now, throttle your instincts. We aren't even at war with Mobius!" X said.  
  
"What use is attacking people we aren't even fighting with?"  
  
"If he had been a Maverick, I would have killed him," Zero said, his eyes  
  
deathly serious.  
  
"You almost did kill him, Zero!!" X exclaimed. "Why is it my responsibility  
  
to keep you two from starting an interplanetary war?! As if we could really  
  
handle one while we're fighting against Sigma!!"  
  
"Wow, Jesus, keep Psycho-bot away from me!" the hedgehog said, jumping from  
  
out of a tree.  
  
"Psycho-bot?!" Zero exclaimed. "That's it, I'm gonna kill him, X! Get out of  
  
my way!"  
  
"Gotta catch me first!!" the hedgehog taunted, running like hell again.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Knothole, Great Forest  
  
"What is going on out there?!" Dr. Cain exclaimed. "It sounds like a war  
  
zone!!" Cain opened the door and barely missed getting decapitated by a blue  
  
hedgehog being thrown through the air. The hedgehog made a sickening  
  
thudding sound as he hit the wooden wall.  
  
"Oh my God, what happened?!" Cain cried out.  
  
"Allow me to dispose of that, Dr. Cain," said Zero, Z-Buster extended and  
  
glowing ominously.  
  
"What's wrong with you!??" Dr. Cain bellowed. Rotor echoed Cain's feelings.  
  
"Excuse me?" Zero said. "This intruder was trying an ambush attack."  
  
"This 'intruder' is the most important person here!!" Cain roared. "You've  
  
nearly killed him single-handedly!! I ought to have you deactivated for  
  
breaking the First Law!!!"  
  
Zero didn't seem to be shaken. "I'm serious!!" Cain said angrily.  
  
"If that's the way it has to be." Zero shrugged. Some Reploids have no fear  
  
of death, and Zero was one of them.  
  
"Woahhhhhh..." the hedgehog known as Sonic groaned.  
  
"Stay still, Sonic," Cain said quickly. Turning his attention back to Zero,  
  
he said, "I'll deal with you later, Zero. For now, try not to cause any more  
  
trouble than you already have."  
  
Zero turned around and left clutching his head.  
  
"I'm sorry, Rotor, Zero hasn't been like this before. Well not before the crash.." Cain apologized. "I'll take a look at his circuts later. Just leave him alone for now, and whatever you do," Cain paused for emphasis," don't provoke him."  
  
"We'd better get Sonic back together," Rotor said. "Sally would know what to  
  
do."  
  
"Wow..." Sally stared. "I've never seen anything like it," she said,  
  
fingering Sonic's wounds. "You say Zero threw him up against the wall? How  
  
hard?"  
  
"Pretty freakin' hard," Rotor said, readjusting his cap. "He actually left a  
  
dent at least an inch deep."  
  
"I'd say at least six broken ribs," Sally estimated, checking Sonic lightly.  
  
"I say he'll need 24 hours to heal."  
  
"Twenty-four hours?" Cain gaped. "You must be joking! Six broken ribs will  
  
take a couple months!!"  
  
"Trust me, he heals fast," Sally said. "Especially when he uses a Power  
  
Ring."  
  
"I never knew they had healing capabilities," Cain said.  
  
"They have several uses," Sally said. "I'm not even sure we've discovered  
  
them all yet."  
  
"We've got one running the De-Roboticizer," Rotor said.  
  
"Pure, condensed energy," Dr. Cain murmured. "Do you know what Sigma would  
  
do for such a thing?"  
  
"You never told me, who are you?" Sally said.  
  
"I'm Dr. Joseph Cain, a friend of Sonic's Uncle Charles," Dr. Cain said.  
  
"I never heard him mention a Dr. Cain," Sally said.  
  
"Please, call me Joseph," Cain said. "And the reason he never told you about  
  
me is that he most probably forgot totally about me or thought I was  
  
roboticized. He and I worked out the Power Ring technology together."  
  
"And next I suppose you'll be claiming to have enhanced Sonic's running,"  
  
Sally said sarcastically  
  
Rotor and Joseph laughed abruptly.  
  
"What's so funny?" Sally demanded.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Knothole, Great Forest  
  
"I hope you're proud of yourself, Zero," X glowered. "You nearly killed  
  
him!"  
  
"He offended my pride" Zero said.  
  
"When did you ever care about your pride!?" X yelled, picking up and throwing a rock at  
  
Zero's head, the rock hit Zero's helmet's crack dead on, Causing the reploid to cry out and lose his balance momentarily but he quickly regained it, and looked at X. "You, and your pride can leave me alone for all I care!!!"  
  
  
  
Zero backed off the tree. "Maybe," he said," I will." And with that, Zero walked off into the forest.  
  
"Man, X, you really pissed him off" Houston pointed out.  
  
"So what?!" X yelled. "I don't care anymore!!!" He fired a few X-Buster  
  
shots off into a bush angrily. The bush burst into flames.  
  
"You don't have to take responsibility for everything, X," Houston said.  
  
"Trust me, if I were in your place, I'd probably just kill Zero and be done  
  
with it. But I'm not a commander. You are, X, and a damn good one to boot."  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tim" X said, smiling tiredly at his teammate.  
  
"Don't mention it."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Flagship Black Spire, Deepspace  
  
"Vile, how are we coming?" Sigma asked, swiveling around in his chair.  
  
"Hyper light drive is still down, but we've got power and movement, Lord Sigma"  
  
the purple Maverick said, looking up from a circuit board he'd just taken  
  
out of the wall.  
  
"Damn," those damn Hunters will pay for this" said Sigma. Deciding to engage the Maverick Hunter's fleet had been a big mistake. Now the Black Spire was stranded alone in the midst of more then a hundred enemy vessels, all within weapons range. It would take at least two years to reach Mobius at the speed the star craft was capable of now. By that time, the war would be lost, in favor of the humans. Not an especially good way to end a genocidal war, Sigma thought; "my ambush has failed, and now I'm going to die in space. Wait...," Sigma looked up then turned at Vile. "Get me to the engine room."  
  
The engine room was a mess. Scraps of metal littered the ground, as well as  
  
tools Sigma's lackeys forgot to pick up. Damn them, Sigma thought as he  
  
picked up a weird tool. What the hell was this? It didn't matter. Sigma  
  
tossed it. Sigma was a leader, not a carpenter. He stepped carefully  
  
around the mess to the hyper drive generator, a vast column of high  
  
technology. He placed his hands on the twin energy input units.  
  
"Lord Sigma, may I ask what are you doing?" Vile asked.  
  
Sigma let out a deep, relaxing breath. And he let energy pour out of his  
  
hands, sparking and flashing a brilliant white. His Blood Red Cape blew back  
  
from the sheer force he was generating.  
  
The ship, moving at a drifting pace, shuddered with power.  
  
"VILE!!! REPORT!!!!!" Sigma bellowed over the noise.  
  
Vile ran to a terminal. "Life support: Online!! Propulsion: Online!!  
  
Redundant systems: Online!! Hyper light drive: ONLINE!!!" Vile was amazed.  
  
"GwaaAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sigma roared, willing the craft to  
  
go forward. The ship shuddered and the hyper drive kicked in. With a roar  
  
from the engine and Sigma, the craft sped forward to destiny.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"SIR!!" The bridge officer of the Maverick Hunter flagship, Home One turned and stared wide eyed at the general. "Sigma's ship suddenly went into Hyperspace sir! "  
  
"WHAT?!?!??!?!?! " The general screamed at the top of his lungs "TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING!!! "  
  
"No sir." the other reploid said "I'm not"  
  
"Well then don't just sit there!!!" The general cried "Tell me where that ship is heading!!!"  
  
"It seems it's on it's way to Mobius sir-- OH SHIT!! Thirty…no, sixty, I repeat, SIXTY more ships have entered hyperspace with him--Make that seventy....eighty....a HUNDRED sir!!!!"  
  
The General almost shit a brick, a hundred starships under Sigma's command?!?! How could H.Q. have been so god damn blind as to not calculate that risk??  
  
"SHIT!!! GO AFTER THEM!! "  
  
"We-We can't sir, all of our fleet's energy was entirely spent in the last space battle between the Mavericks! And it'll be another three weeks before the supply ships can reach us, we're dead in the water sir!"  
  
The general stood up, sweat glistening off his face. They had recently lost contact with Commander X's ship the Red Mercury. Could it be that Mobius was inhabited after all? If so, then were the resident's hostile? And the lost contact was due to the ship being shot down? But then again the planet could have an odd effect on sensors and X could be trying to be reach them right now!  
  
If that was the case, and they didn't get word to X and his team soon... then may God help them all.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
STEEL AND TRAPS  
  
"Owwww..." Sonic whimpered. He tried to stand up.  
  
"Stay still," said Joseph, gently holding him down.  
  
"Wow... Psycho-bot has a mean body slam.." Sonic said, smiling weakly.  
  
"Yeah, well I hope he doesn't use it again, Sonic," Sally said. "He almost  
  
killed you back there."  
  
"Come on Sal!" Sonic protested. "You think a little thing like getting  
  
thrown into a wall is gonna stop yours truly?" He grinned.  
  
"He's OK, or at least his ego is," Sally proclaimed. "I wish his ego would  
  
get mortally wounded or something."  
  
"Don't we all!" Rotor laughed.  
  
"So where did Charles put the Power Ring generator?" Joseph asked.  
  
"Just a second, Rotor and I have to talk this over," Sally said, taking  
  
Rotor into the corner.  
  
"Rotor? Do you think we can show him the way to the pool?" Sally asked.  
  
"Sure, Sally, I know the way, everyone does. Even Antoine knows, and he  
  
doesn't even know what he's saying when he says 'sacre bleu!!' Heck,  
  
he doesn't ever know what he's saying half of the time anyway!!" Rotor said.  
  
"No, I mean, would it be safe?" Sally asked.  
  
"Why wouldn't it be?"  
  
"What if he's one of Robotnik's spies?" Sally said.  
  
"Come on, Sally!!" Rotor protested. "If he was, why wouldn't he be a robot  
  
like the other five?"  
  
"Maybe he is."  
  
"You're being hysterical!!" Rotor said.  
  
"I'm being serious."  
  
"You're being hysterical!!" Rotor repeated. "You're getting worked up over  
  
nothing!!"  
  
"But--" Sally started.  
  
"Let's just show him the pool, Sally," Rotor scowled. "If you want to keep  
  
it a secret, I'll just go and get it myself. Your call, Sally."  
  
"I... I don't trust him," Sally whispered. "Him and his robotic killers."  
  
"I dare you to say that to Zero," Rotor said.  
  
"N-no!!" Sally stammered.  
  
"OK, Sally," Rotor said. "I'm only listening to you because you're the  
  
boss."  
  
Suddenly Tails rushed in with a frightened expression on his face. "Aunt  
  
Sally!!! Rotor!!!" he panted.  
  
Rotor and Sally broke away and came to Tails. "What is it, Tails?" Sally  
  
asked.  
  
"SWATbots!!!!"  
  
Zero was faring OK against the half dozen black iron cyborgs that had  
  
attacked him. They knew someone was going to be here, so they ambushed him.  
  
They looked absolutely shocked when Zero had whipped out his Beam Saber,  
  
activated the neon green blade, and slashed the first one in half. It was as  
  
though they didn't expect Zero to be able to defend himself.  
  
Foolish robots.  
  
Zero charged his DualBlasters and blew two away at one time. Zero noticed  
  
that they had very little armor, and extremely simple attack programs.  
  
Pieces of cake. When the dust cleared, Zero stood surrounded by the pieces  
  
of the shattered black robots. He picked up a silvery piece of metal off one  
  
of the "bodies" and examined it. Odd... A remote control device. It was  
  
connected to a small grayish-white cylinder.  
  
A second wave of fighters came. Zero activated his Beam Saber again, the  
  
green plasma blade casting a pale, ominous light.  
  
The weapon danced in Zero's skilled hands. Circulatory fluid splattered all  
  
over the nearby trees. The remaining three invaders were stopped by a blast  
  
from behind Zero.  
  
Protoman grinned, blowing the smoke off his arm cannon. He jumped off of the  
  
tree limb he was hanging off of onto the forest floor. "Need help?" he quipped.  
  
"Thanks" Zero said, running a hand through his hair. "Now could someone  
  
please tell me what in the name of God those were?"  
  
"I think those are Prower's 'SWATbots'," Proto said.  
  
"Prower?" Zero echoed.  
  
"The two-tailed fox. Miles Prower," Proto said.  
  
"Ah." Zero picked up a shattered black box off a SWATbot body. "I want to  
  
crack this thing. Proto, can you do it?"  
  
"No, but I think that walrus can. He looked suitably techno," Proto said.  
  
"Then go get him," Zero suggested.  
  
"Don't need to. He's coming," Proto replied.  
  
As if on cue, Rotor appeared, armed with... was that some sort of weapon,  
  
Zero wondered? It looked more like an eggbeater. In fact, it was an  
  
eggbeater. Protoman asked Rotor if he was meaning to kill something with  
  
that eggbeater. Rotor blushed bright red and put the eggbeater back in his  
  
pocket, muttering something unintelligible.  
  
"It looks like you got them all..." Rotor said.  
  
"SWATbots?" Zero smiled grimly, wiping clear circulatory fluid off his arm.  
  
"You got it. Robotnik's little robo-twerps," Rotor grimaced.  
  
"Who the hell is this Robotnik guy anyway?" Protoman asked.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting you're from another planet," Rotor said.  
  
"I didn't like that tone of voice on 'planet' back there," Protoman whispered to  
  
Zero.  
  
"Neither did I..." Zero replied.  
  
"Maybe Sally can explain it better than I can," Rotor said, not hearing what  
  
the two Hunters were saying. "Come on." He gestured for Zero and Proto to  
  
come with him. Zero picked up a pair of SWATbot black boxes to take with  
  
him.  
  
"Guys?" Rotor yelled. No answer. "GUYS?!" Still no answer. "GUYS???"  
  
Rotor bellowed. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." he mumbled.  
  
"Houston!!!" Zero barked. No answer. "X, Jill!!" Silence. "This is odd"  
  
Zero said.  
  
"There's only one place I can think of that they'd be, and that's  
  
Robotropolis," Rotor said.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Main Ciditel, Robotropolis  
  
"Sir, the matter transfer was a great success," Snively said. "It  
  
delivered the Freedom Fighters straight to our doorstep. Unfortunately, two  
  
escaped."  
  
"Let me guess," Robotnik snarled bitterly. "That rodent and the princess,  
  
right?"  
  
"Actually, no, sir. The hedgehog seems to be in critical condition," Snively  
  
said. "The SWATbots didn't know who the extra two were, but the core six and  
  
one other seem to be accounted for."  
  
"Let the other two try to escape," Robotnik said. "It doesn't matter to me  
  
anyhow. They'll be Roboticized before too long."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"Come on!!" Jill whispered, crawling after X in the cramped heating duct.  
  
"We have to get out of here!"  
  
"But what about Houston and Cain?!" X whispered loudly.  
  
"Worry about them LATER!!" Jill snarled. "We'll come back for them!!"  
  
"I don't like this..." X muttered.  
  
"Do you really want to go back there?! Those Mobians were damn frightened,  
  
and Cain was too. Wanna go back and find out why?" Jill growled.  
  
"No."  
  
"Then follow me," Jill said. X was supposed to be the commanding officer,  
  
but Jill had experience in these matters. "This heating duct should lead  
  
somewhere, or it wouldn't have been guarded." Jill had dealt with the  
  
cybernetic guards by tearing their inner circuitry out their backs. She  
  
crawled forth. "Stop," she commanded, looking through a vent.  
  
"Lemme see," X said, looking through the vent.  
  
The Hunters were high above the ground, almost over a circular  
  
refrigerator-sized device made of metal and glass X started to raise his X- Buster. "Shhhh, Dont " Jill warned." I think It's important to them." The black sentry droids swarmed like ants down there. There was some sort of operation going on. One droid roughly threw a middle-aged Mobian into it.  
  
"What the hell are they doing down there?" Jill muttered.  
  
"Shhhh." X wanted to see this.  
  
A canopy slid down on the device and energy collected in the cylinder.  
  
"What the...?!" Jill mumbled, engrossed in the process.  
  
There was a terrible silence.  
  
There was a high, piercing scream of sheer terror.  
  
There was a terrible silence.  
  
In an instant it was done. The Mobian marched out of the cylinder gleaming  
  
metallically. His eyes were replaced by red pinpoints of red digital light.  
  
His flesh was replaced by silver sheet metal.  
  
Roboticization.  
  
"Now I see..." X said. This wasn't an ordinary global takeover, this was  
  
genocide! Robotnik had clearly gone too far. "Robotics gone mad," X  
  
murmured. Now everything fit into place!  
  
"I don't believe this..." Jill said. She looked into X's eyes with a tinge  
  
of barely controlled hate and outrage. "Let's just blow this thing to oblivion." For once, X agreed with her. He kicked the vent open  
  
.  
  
The broken vent clattered to the floor. "Cover me!!!" X screamed, leaping  
  
down in the middle of the droids and firing wildly. The droids were  
  
surprised senseless. After the first dozen exploded however, they started  
  
firing. X was too close and his movements were fueled by enough outrage that  
  
every shot they made missed and hit their fellows. So the sentry droids  
  
killed off most of their allies, and Jill and X picked off the few remaining  
  
ones. Then X turned his attention to the Roboticizer.  
  
"AAAAARGH!!!!" X screamed, pumping plasma into the device. His normally blue  
  
eyes turned bright red, showing that he was Berserking. X roared in fury,  
  
and soon enough, the Roboticizer started to smoke and little blue bolts of electricity danced around it till then exploded. X kept firing at the ruins of the Roboticizer in uncontrolled rage.  
  
  
  
"Yes!!" Tails yelled from the Freedom Fighters' cell. "X just blew up the  
  
Roboticizer!!"  
  
"You can't be serious!" Sally said, looking out at the ruined Roboticizer.  
  
"My Lord..." she gasped. X was trashing the thing!! She watched as he  
  
X-Bustered it till it fried. He was doing the impossible!  
  
"Snively..." Robotnik demanded, bordering on hysteria. "What's going on?"  
  
Snively stared at the monitor in mute shock. "They... They... They destroyed  
  
it!" Snively stammered.  
  
"WHAT?!?!?!?!??!?!!?" Robotnik yelled at the top of his lungs.  
  
CHAPTER 7  
  
ESCAPE  
  
Rotor jump-kicked a SWATbot in the head. It went down, unconscious. A small  
  
pool of the clear circulatory fluid SWATbots used collected around the  
  
sentry's neck. "Coast's clear," Rotor said, beckoning to Zero and  
  
Protoman.  
  
"What the hell are X and the others doing here?" Proto muttered. "This is  
  
way too Maverick-style for me."  
  
"Probably didn't have a choice in the matter," Zero said. "Matter  
  
transfer or something similar. That's the only way you'd get me anywhere  
  
near this hellhole." He spat on the unconscious SWATbot.  
  
"Let's shut up and get them out of here!!" Rotor suggested sharply. "God  
  
knows what Robotnik's planning now..."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"They WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Robotnik bellowed.  
  
"They destroyed it, sir," said Snively meekly.  
  
"You can't be serious!!" Robonik shoved Snivley out of the way and checked  
  
the monitors of the computer banks Snively was using. The Roboticizer had  
  
gone off-line from an immense electromagnetic pulse. He checked the security  
  
cameras and was shocked at what was going on.  
  
Two of his own robots were trashing the Roboticizer!! "Say!!" Robotnik  
  
yelled. "What the hell are you two doing??!!"  
  
The white and gold robot seemed to notice the presence of the security  
  
cameras. "Robotnik, I presume?" he snarled.  
  
"You can cut the crap with me," Robotnik said sternly. "Now quit it, or I'll  
  
have you deactivated."  
  
"Robotnik," the white and gold robot said tersely, "You can bite my shiny metal  
  
ass!!" The robot turned his E-Plasma cannon to the camera. "Adios, asshole."  
  
The robot shot the camera, leaving only static for Robotnik to look at.  
  
"DAMN!!" Robotnik yelled. He picked up a microphone. "All SWATbot units  
  
report to Roboticizer Chamber 03, on the double!!" he yelled. "Kill them!!  
  
Kill the bastard robots, kill the Freedom Fighters, kill the hedgehog, KILL  
  
THEM ALL!!!!!"  
  
Alarms began to howl. "Looks like they found us," Zero said wryly,  
  
unclasping and igniting the Beam Saber. It glowed a steady, pale green  
  
light.  
  
"The heating duct!" Rotor yelled over the alarms, tearing a vent out of the  
  
wall. The three rescuers climbed into the heating system of Robotropolis.  
  
It was a tight fit for the two Maverick Hunters, unlike Rotor, who was used  
  
to traveling the ducts on spy missions, and also happened to be a whole lot  
  
smaller. "Come on!" Rotor whispered, not wanting the sound to carry. The  
  
heavy reploids followed noisily. "Shh!!" Rotor commanded. The reploids got  
  
somewhat quieter, but Rotor was still afraid that someone would hear them.  
  
They traveled slowly through the ducts, slow enough for Proto and Zero to  
  
take in the dismal sights. Rotor felt they weren't going fast enough, but it  
  
was the fastest the Maverick Hunters could go without causing a huge racket.  
  
Through the vents, there were pitiful looking Mobians working in what  
  
appeared to be factories. But these ones, Zero noticed, had a metallic sheen  
  
to fur and quills. And all of their eyes were red. He said as much.  
  
"What the Hell...?" Proto said, the realization dawning on him too. "What's  
  
going on here?" Rotor ignored them both, barely holding back tears.  
  
"Something big is going on this planet... Something I don't think I really  
  
want Sigma to get a hold of," Zero said. Something wasn't adding up... Or  
  
maybe it was.  
  
"Let's get going," Rotor said.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Roboticizer Chamber 03, Robotnik Compound  
  
The alarms howled. "Hey, I was just thinking..." said a partially conscious Sonic.  
  
"Will someone shut him up??" Jill said, blowing the heavy-duty lock away with a single shot from her Magnum.  
  
"Somebody call for a exterminator?" Houston quipped, grinning madly.  
  
"DETAIN FREEDOM FIGHTERS BY ORDER OF DR. ROBOTNIK," droned several SWATbot voices at once.  
  
"Shit!!" Jill shouted, blasting away with her laser rifle. She tossed Sally  
  
her Magnum. She actually turned out to be a pretty good shot. Reploid  
  
and Mobian fought side by side. Bunny gave some much-needed assistance in  
  
the form of punching and kicking the crap out of SWATbots. Houston had fun  
  
launching Concussion Missiles at SWATbot scum. Tails was also doing a great job of taking down SWATbots with impressive combonation based attacks using his fists, feet and two tails as weapons.  
  
  
  
Jill realized they had more people that were useless than people who could  
  
fight. Cain, a half-conscious Sonic, and especially Antoine. Once Houston ran out of  
  
missiles, he'd be forced to go with hand-to-hand combat. And his Power Suit  
  
wasn't made for such an occurrence. Even now, Jill 's laser rifle was running  
  
on sheer exhaust fumes. Actually, it was quartz crystal, but what does it  
  
matter? Jill pulled the trigger, and it fired it's last shot. There were  
  
more SWATbots coming in, seemingly an endless swarm.  
  
This was hopeless.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Heating Duct, Robotnik Compound  
  
"Stop," Rotor said, looking through the vent. "There's a whole legion of  
  
SWATbots down there. We'll never get through them."  
  
"Why would we want to?" Proto asked.  
  
"Because that's where the others are," Rotor said.  
  
"Oh," Proto said.  
  
"Wait... How do your DualBlasters work, Zero?" Rotor asked, his eyes  
  
gleaming devilishly.  
  
"Well.. the power magnet draws energy into the ion processor..." Zero began.  
  
"No, can it absorb power from other sources?" Rotor asked.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose so..." Zero trailed off.  
  
"Here." Rotor took a gold ring out of his backpack. "It's a Power Ring.  
  
You just hold it, I think." Rotor instructed. Zero took the ring in his  
  
hand, feeling it's pure, sweet, condensed energy wash over his metal body.  
  
"Sweet," Zero remarked. He instantly charged up to full potential, using a  
  
fraction of the time it would have normally taken him. He kicked out the  
  
vent and began firing away. And by firing away, I mean (blowing the almighty  
  
shit out of anything that happened to move!!) Zero roared a primal challenge  
  
to his adversaries, whose shots were blocked by a shield Zero threw up  
  
using energy from the Power Ring. He retaliated by curving the ring into an  
  
arc and letting energy flow out of it, disintegrating all SWATbot forces.  
  
"Thanks, Zero," X panted, resting on a piece of machinery. "You always  
  
manage to come at the right time."  
  
"Yeah, ain't I great?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
Control Center, Robotnik Compound  
  
"They WHAT????????" Robotnik bellowed, going far, far past the top of his  
  
lungs. "They destroyed 45% of my entire SWATbot force???!!!"  
  
"Yes, sir," Snively confirmed quietly.  
  
" Almost half of my ENTIRE ARMY!!!!!!" Robotnik screamed. Looking heavenward, he screamed, "WHY?! WHY NOT JUST TAKE ME NOW!??!!?!?!"  
  
"Doctor...." Snively said quietly. "I have this feeling that it's about to  
  
get a whole lot worse." He stared at a security camera displaying a gray hedgehog  
  
at the Robotropolis gates.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Let's get out of here!" Houston suggested.  
  
"Gee, good idea," Zero said sarcastically. "Here," he said, returning the  
  
Power Ring to Rotor. "Did you want this back?"  
  
"Sure," Rotor said, accepting the golden ring. "Sonic will need this." He  
  
slipped it into the hedgehog's hand.  
  
"Thanks." Sonic grunted, using the ring. It glowed bright yellow for a second then died, attracting considerable shock from Sonic.  
  
"What the hell is going on here?!" Rotor swore. "The Power Ring failed!!"  
  
"Drained," Dr. Cain grumbled. "We'll have to carry him." X picked up the limp  
  
hedgehog.  
  
"Let's get OUT OF HERE!!!" Houston repeated, juicing up the Hyper Boosters  
  
implanted in his Power Suit. The suit began glowing a dim neon white and  
  
Houston blasted off.  
  
"Wait!!!" Sally yelled. "We have to stay together!!!" But the maverick  
  
hunter was already gone.  
  
"We can't all fit through the heating ducts..." Rotor started. "Follow  
  
him!!"  
  
"Divide..." Robotnik said," And CONQUER!!" He pressed various buttons on his  
  
control chair, making the layout of the labyrinth that was the Robotnik  
  
Compound change randomly.  
  
A wall slid out and blocked the way forward, while at the same time,  
  
creating two new passageways. X fired upon the wall, and the shots  
  
ricocheted harmlessly. "Tiranium," X announced bitterly.  
  
"Crap..." Zero muttered. "Is that the super-strong reflective metal Sigma  
  
used for most of his Battle Suit?"  
  
"The same," X said.  
  
"Craaaap..." Zero moaned. "This has been a rotten day."  
  
"Tiranium?" Rotor piped up. "You mean Robotnik has access to that stuff?"  
  
"Yes, I do," boomed a voice from out of nowhere.  
  
"Robotnik," Sally growled.  
  
"I'm happy to see you too, Princess," Robotnik replied sarcastically. "Along  
  
with the rest of you Freedom Failures."  
  
"What do YOU want?" Dr. Cain snarled.  
  
"My, my, you don't even know me," Robotnik said. "And already you hate  
  
me!" He laughed. "Not especially friendly, are you?"  
  
"I know all about you, Julian, you bastard," Cain replied coldly. "I know  
  
that you're a little whacked-out machine-crazed sociopath that can't  
  
function correctly in the real world."  
  
"My, aren't we touchy!" Robotnik laughed. "From where do you know me? If  
  
these Freedom Fighters told you that about me, they're sorely mistaken."  
  
"Personal experience," Cain said.  
  
"....? What are you talking about?" Robotnik asked.  
  
"Julian, I'm Dr. Cain, come back to haunt you," Cain said. He laughed a grim  
  
laugh.  
  
"Cain. The maker of the Roboticizer, no doubt. I thought I got rid of you a  
  
long while ago."  
  
"We'll talk about it for a long time-- in the afterlife, that is." Cain  
  
said.  
  
"How about we discuss it after I Roboticize you all?" Robotnik asked.  
  
Freedom Fighter and Maverick Hunter alike could hear the grin on Robotnik's  
  
face, if not see it. "I'm in a nice mood today, however. If you can get out  
  
of here alive, I guess I can let you free... That is if you get out."  
  
"Bite me," Zero suggested.  
  
" That's a new one," Robotnik commented. "I'll have to  
  
remember that one. By the way, what the BLUE-BLAZING LASER-TRAILING  
  
SUPER-IONIZED CARBON-ENTROPIED NULL-CARRIER MODEM- RESETTING PHREAKIN HELL ARE YOU??!?!"  
  
"I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?" Zero retorted sarcasticly.  
  
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Robotnik sneered.  
  
"Do you really want to know?" Zero replied coolly.  
  
"Maybe I ought to teach you some respect, you little foul mouthed rebel,"  
  
Robotnik snarled.  
  
Zero opened his mouth and let out a long, complicated string of swear words  
  
that would make the most vile, drunken sailor blush. Everyone's eyes got  
  
really, really wide as they contemplated where Zero had learned such a  
  
phrase. Zero continued emitting vulgarities for the better half of ten  
  
minutes.  
  
"W-well," Robotnik stammered, obviously impressed. "That was certainly an  
  
educational moment."  
  
"Would you like me to repeat that, Mr. Ro-fuck-nik, so you can write it all  
  
down?" Zero smiled cordially.  
  
"SWATbots, wash this guy's mouth out with soap!!" Robotnik called. "Lots and LOTS of soap!!"  
  
"Just shut up and tell me how I'm supposed to get out of here," Zero said.  
  
"Find it yourself, you moron," Robotnik suggested, the radio shutting off.  
  
Zero muttered a curse under his breath. "Which way do we go?" he asked  
  
nobody in particular. "Or can we teleport?"  
  
Nobody said anything, they merely stared at Zero in mute shock. "What?" Zero  
  
said, shrugging. "Was I a little too vigorous back there?" He punched in  
  
four digits on a keypad inset on his wrist. "Everyone join hands," Zero  
  
commanded. Hunter and Fighter joined hands, and Zero teleported, taking the  
  
whole lot with them.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Control Center, Robotnik Compound  
  
"GONE??? What do you mean by 'GONE?????' " Robotnik demanded.  
  
"I mean they're gone, sir," Snively said. "They used a teleportation unit  
  
of some sort--"  
  
"Teleportation? Why didn't the shields stop them?" Robotnik asked coldly.  
  
"They're down at the moment, sir, the gray hedgehog sabotaged the shield  
  
generators," Snively said.  
  
"Damn him and Cain!!!" Robotnik yelled, smashing his fist against the  
  
control chair. These reploids had destroyed nearly every piece of weaponry  
  
he owned. The bulk of his military forces, an extremely expensive force  
  
shield generator, two Roboticizers, one that the white reploid destroyed, a  
  
second that Speed had dismantled at the front gates, where if all had worked  
  
correctly, Robotnik could've trapped them as they escaped. But the foul  
  
mouthed red one had teleported, ruining Robotnik's plans.  
  
He shook in fury. The time needed to rebuild it all was something like a few  
  
months. A few months in which he would be practically defenseless.  
  
"DAMN!!!" Robotnik screamed. "DAMN IT ALL!!!!!!!"  
  
Snively gulped. This was going to be a rotten day.  
  
A really, really rotten day.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Outskirts of Knothole, Great Forest  
  
"Woohoo!" Protoman cried triumphantly. "We made it out alive!!" He fired a  
  
few celebratory Mega Buster shots into the air.  
  
"I've made a decision," Jill said to Sally. "Is there room for a extra  
  
Freedom Fighter?"  
  
"Count me in!" Protoman chimed in.  
  
"Add one more to the lineup," Zero said.  
  
"Make that two, Sally," X grinned.  
  
"Make that three," Houston said, hefting his arm cannon.  
  
"Oh mah stars..." Bunny said, wide eyed. "FIVE new Freedom Fighters, Sally- girl?"  
  
"Six," Dr. Cain corrected, smiling.  
  
"Wow..." Sally mumbled. "Five war machines... Are you sure about this?"  
  
"Well you'll have a lot more then just five after we recover and revive the rest of our team from the Red Mercury." Jill said, grinning. "PLUS! We have more ships on the way.. Down side about that is Sigma is sure to be following them with his own fleet."  
  
  
  
"I don't see why not...If what you say is true, then..." Sally said. "Sure!"  
  
"Maverick Hunter Zero reporting for duty, MA'AM!!" Zero fake saluted, firing  
  
a shot into the air. "I see Zero is back to normal" X whispered to Dr.Cain "What happened?" "Well its seems his circuits where damaged when we crashed, so I repaired them" "Amen" Houston said "Well lets get down to it" X and Jill followed suit, firing plasma shot into to the sky.  
  
And so begins the alliance between the Maverick Hunters and the Freedom Fighters...  
  
The End........FOR NOW  
  
  
  
CopyRight 1998-2002 Mark Conrard (ShadowWolf@furrymail.zzn.com) 


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